Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all from New Zealand and Australia - where I am staying at the moment with my son and his family, and where it is bakingly hot. But we still cooked a roast dinner! We unwrapped our presents this morning and then ate chocolates. (That's compulsory isn't it?)

The photos are from a common site on the internet, by the way. And are of New Zealand, rather than Australia. (Oooh, why has that underlined itself?)



And so to answer your question Flartopia, yes, our Christmas traditions are pretty much the same as in Britain really. Even to the extent of sometimes sending out Christmas Cards showing red robins in the snow! Crazy really, but it's just stuck from when our forefathers came out to New Zealand about 160 years ago. Australia was settled a bit earlier, but the same thing applies I imagine. Quite often these days people will have a barbeque or similar for Christmas Dinner, but I think that the majority of people still do the whole roast meal thing - turkey/chicken/ham/pork/lamb/whatever, and all the trimmings. Then we are exhausted because it's all just too hot and we've eaten too much and we collapse on the sofa for an afternoon sleep!
Joyeux Noel.

Christmas Lights

Last night a few of us 'gals' had a great meal at SPQR in Ponsonby. It's supposedly where local celebs hang out, but we didn't see any! Great meal though. Then we wandered up and down Franklin Road to look at the Christmas lights. They were really great, and I think I will have to get a flasher camera, as mine really didn't do things justice. But anyway, here a few snaps. Almost all the houses were decorated and there were heaps of people walking up and down the street, as well as cars driving slowly along. A really buzzy atmosphere. It was lovely!

Last weekend

It's hard to believe that I lived in Nelson for 30 years. Certainly, I never thought I would leave. But here I am - in Auckland for 6 years now. But it's always good to go back and last weekend I took a couple of extra days off school and flew down. Nelson has not escaped the horrible late spring/early summer that is haunting the whole country - it was COLD!! But good. I went to my optician because I had an urge to spend $711. Oh well, I will get some new glasses out of it! I had a few other 'business-type' appointments, and lots of coffee and/or lunch catch-ups too. Nice!
Incidentally, for my American friends, Nelson is a coastal city of about 60 000 situated at the top of the South Island. It has a great climate and is often known as Sunny Nelson. It's also very scenic and attracts quite a few tourists. So there you are! It was a great place for my kids to grow up in.
Anyway, one visit I hadn't anticipated was to the A&E department of Nelson Hospital! On Saturday morning I dropped my friend Hilary off at the rehearsal for the concert later on that day. I was chatting to all my Sweet Adelines friends, then was about to head off to the Nelson Market, when Ann tripped on a very low kerb and crashed down on all fours. To cut a long story short, we had to call an ambulance and I went in it with her. My first time in an ambulance! (Ann's too I think!)She was in a great deal of pain and it transpired that she had dislocated her elbow and also broken a bone! So she definitely didn't get to sing with the chorus, poor thing! I was pleased that I was able to be with Ann, and I got back just in time for the concert, which was really enjoyable.
Next day was Carol Singing after the Christmas Parade, and despite the pelting down rain it went ahead. So not much of an audience, but it was good anyway.
A visit to my friend Viv, then off to the airport and home. I caught up with lots of people by design, and I also ran into quite a few unexpectedly which was just great.
So all in all, a great weekend. I was flat out, which possibly explains my tiredness. A kind of "tired but happy!" tiredness I guess. :-)
The photo at the top is the view from Hilary's garden and spa pool! Hilary and Neil live in Mapua, about half an hour from Nelson city, out in the country. And with stunning views, as you can see! And sitting in the spa pool at night with the lights of Nelson twinkling in the distance and all the stars - it's fabulous! The other photos are of Hilary just by the restaurant where we dined on Friday night. Then there's me with my good friends Hilary, Marion and Lois, with Wendy and me in the front. Then there's me joining in with the after-match function (lol), and a photo of the Nelson Chorus (and a couple of guests)singing on the Sunday.

Thanks

Thanks everyone. Chris has had the operation and the surgeon was very pleased with how it went. Obviously Chris still isn't feeling fabulous, but he is going to be fine when it's all over! Then he's got summer at the beach to look forward to with time to recuperate. Thanks again for your positive words. :-)

Warm thoughts please.

This Thursday my brother in law is having a major operation on his back. He is having 3 spinal discs fused together. (I think - I don't retain medical stuff very well!) At the moment he is in huge pain all the time and can barely move. He has had previous attempts by surgeons to sort things out but to no avail. He is a very active, full-on kind of guy. Can't sit still, goes pig-hunting; a 'real bloke', as we say. And I might add, with a heart of gold. A good guy. Afterwards, he is going to have to be immobile for several months, and even that will be a huge challenge!
I said to Jane, my sister, that I would ask my blogging friends to send Chris some postive thoughts. She laughed and said that Chris didn't believe in that sort of thing, but she was fine with it! Well, I believe in the power of love and kindness, I really do. So if you would be so kind as to send some warm thoughts in this direction, or offer a prayer - whichever is your preference, that would be just great! I don't think that the timing matters, but just for your information, when Thursday dawns here in New Zealand it's still Wednesday in the States. :-)
Thanks everyone.

I have just had a wee burst and have added a world map which tells me from which countries my viewers have popped by for a visit! (Well, it's not actually a map but never mind!) I've also become a 'follower' of several blogs which I have discovered and which I'd like to read on a regular basis. A couple of those people have joined my merry band of followers too. Soooooo..... I really need to decide what I'm going to do with this blog if I'm going to be attracting readers. Lol! Try to remember bits and pieces from my year away? Just keep adding photos? Start a new blog quite unrelated to France? Or perhaps you have questions? If you want to ask them I would be very happy to answer. Soooo.... (another sooooo) let me know what you think. Please!
In the meantime, a few more photos. In no particular order because they seem to rearrange themselves when published: it's me with Abir, my lovely young uni friend from Lebanon, at the University of Poitiers. Then there's Robyn beside a statue of Joan of Arc. Robyn and I used to go to Sunday School together! My 'walking' friends; me one night in Poitiers just before last Christmas; and my house one sunny winter's day. (My studio is the little bit you can just see at the back!) And my background is just a little bit early for Christmas, but we don't have all that much time to be festive so I thought I'd start now! :-)

Eating, drinking, and food in general!

Just a random selection.... I seemed to spend a lot of time eating and drinking. Well, I was in France! It was compulsory!